Forks County General Hospital
by wwheisenberg
Summary: Edward Cullen, M.D. gets a mysterious visitor barely clinging to life in his ER.
1. Chapter 1

Edward Cullen, M.D. ignored the comparable sea of sweat amassing on his forehead. He blinked hard to clear his eyes and to make himself focus. He glanced over at the cardiac monitor and saw the jagged lines of tachycardia suddenly change.

"V-fib" announced the nurse. Today was not his day.

"Paddles," he ordered- the nurse already had the paddles waiting for his grip.

"Charge to 300," he was perspiring though his scrubs, but the determination in his voice annulled any inkling of fear- "and clear."

He placed the paddles onto the patient's chest and shocked her. The jolts of electricity coarsed through the patient's body and caused her to convulse. Edward couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, even in such a sterile setting, with her shirt cut open, blood everywhere, and a tube down her throat, but then again, he didn't really mind the blood...

"Charge to 350... Clear!" He yelled as he shocked the patient again, his rising desperation now present in his tone. He shocked her again and listened intently for a normal sinus rhythm.

"Asystole" came the defeated tone of the nurse when the cardiac monitor flat lined.

"fuck" he whispered under his breath. "Alright, push an amp of Epi."

He waited there to see what would happen. He wanted to wait forever, but he knew that the trauma had been too severe, and that this patient had lost too much blood. He tore off his blood soaked gloves with ferocious disdain, spots of crimson spackled onto the green and white tiled floor. There was something inherently savage about his movements, he could see that the nursing staff was profoundly unsettled. He suddenly felt the onset of an intense migraine and decided it was probably from the damnable white sterile light that was flooding the room. Dr. Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke to his resident, "Hold compressions."

Edward felt a rage boiling inside him, he had wanted to save this girl. He had tried his hardest and still failed.

"What was her name?" he asked.

His resident answered him, "I.D. says Isabella Swan." The resident's voice was low and somber.

"Notify the family." Replied Edward.

_Fuck it!- _In an act of frustration, of defiance to death, Dr. Cullen rose his ungloved fist above his head and buffeted it down hard into the girl's sternum. Edward knew it was unprofessional, hell, even unethical, to strike a dead patient- he didn't know why he had done it, but he had. To his and everyone else's surprise- the cardiac monitor spiked.

"What the fu-"

"Sshhhh!"

The room went quiet, as if all the air had been sucked out of it. The doctors and nurses all held their breath in the vacuum created by the girl's heartbeat. The blip repeated itself and sinus rhythm returned.

Nurse Alice Cullen gasped- "It's a miracle."

"Not yet," responded Edward. "we need to get Neuro down here for an EEG. And let's get her O2 level up."

He had been in this game long enough not to be corrupted by false hope- she had been down for too long. If she was still alive her brain would be mush- the EEG would confirm that. He couldn't help it though, he did feel a little excited, there seemed to be something special about this girl.

He blew through the double doors of the ER and down through the corridor, a whole amalgam of different people were running around- it seemed like a person from every walk of life could be found within these halls, be they doctors, nurses, patients, or what ever else. Edward didn't like it, the hallway smelled like fear. He went into the doctor's lounge and sat down at the table. He sagged his head and then ran his hands through his thick black hair. The doctor's lounge was poorly lit and smelled like a locker room. The rotation of the ceiling fan created an eerie shadow that circulated the room, and Edward could barely hear himself think over the din of the air conditioning. It seemed unbearably loud in the otherwise silent room. To be honest, he hated this place, and not just the doctor's lounge, but the entire Hospital. It consumed the life force of the people that worked there- ironically, the hospital was like a vampire. Edward's stepfather, Carlisle Cullen, was the Chief of Medicine. Edward owed his life to this man, and admired him greatly. He loved him: as a father, a friend, and a mentor, but he hated working for him, he hated the family hospital. The hospital had taken so much from Edward. He'd never had a chance to have his own life, he'd never had a chance to live, he felt stifled, he felt smothered. He was locked in this loveless arranged marriage to his profession, to this place.

He laid down his stethoscope on the table and stretched. He had been on duty since yesterday evening and was fatigued and weary. Story of my life he thought to himself. He didn't have too much to complain about though, because the residents had it ten times harder. His current resident was one of the most promising doctors he'd seen come through these halls in years. In his third year of residency, he was the obvious choice for chief resident position. Edward almost wanted to see him get out, before he became another cog in Carlisle's machine. He heard a timid knock on the door, the residents knew he hated to be interrupted.

"Come in" he said.

His resident came in, "EEG is back on that trauma, looks good, but we'll still have to wait and see on the long term damage. What should we do now?"

Edward smiled to himself. Alice was right, it really was a miracle. He had to hand it to Carlisle, sometimes it was a good business they ran here. Victories like this made it worth it.

"Have you reached the family?" Edward asked with a growing smile.

"Yes sir, they're waiting in chairs."

"Okay we'll lets go let them see their daughter." Edward said as he got up out of his chair. "And good work Dr. Black."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I began this story two years ago and sort of forgot about it. Is anyone interested in seeing it finished?**

Edward was there when the girl, Isabella Swan, he remembered, awoke. He watched as her eyes flickered open, she would still be in a haze from the anesthetic.

He spoke to her, "You're alright, but try not to move around."

He watched as her pupils lazily adjusted to the light and he half grinned at himself. He had always found watching the human brain functioning under the remnants of anesthesia to be slightly humorous.

"Where am I?" the girl asked sleepily. Her voice was weak, but it seemed to resonate throughout the room.

It's sound perplexed him. It wasn't that her voice was extraordinarily lucid, but he was unprepared for such an angelic voice to come out of such damaged and maimed body.

"Uh… You're in Forks County General Hospital" was all the response he could muster as his mind began to drift elsewhere.

He had thought wrong earlier, she wasn't beautiful. She was attractive, maybe, but not beautiful. Her skin was almost as pale as his own, which in his medical mind provoked thoughts of Vitamin D deficiency. Her face was nothing beyond plebian and in fact was perceptibly asymmetrical. It wasn't her appearance, no; it was her scent that he found to be so mesmerizing. Before he thought it might have been the odor of her blood exposed to the open air, but he searched back to his memory and couldn't remember ever getting such a feeling as he had now, even from a multi-victim trauma. Occasionally there would be a particularly bloody pile-up that would cause him to salivate and he could even remember a prettier girl than this showing up with a GSW to the chest, who had lost just as much blood as this girl, and all it did was make him hungry. This wasn't a hunger in that sense. He did feel hungry, however not for blood. He wasn't sure if he'd ever felt this feeling before.

Dr. Black's voice transplanted him back to reality.

"You can see her now." He was saying from the other side of the double doors.

The girl's mother pushed through the doors and screamed "Bella!" She half-ran, half-fell to her daughter's bedside.

"I'm here Bella, I'm here. You're going to be alright." Her mother whispered through unsuccessfully choked tears.

"Mom?" asked the now coherent Bella. "Where am I?"

_Oh fuck. _Edward shot a glance to Dr. Black, who was already looking at him. The stark realization had hit them both at the same time. Maybe it was just the drugs, Edward decided to wait and see how the conversation played out.

"You're at the hospital sweetie. You and Mike were in a car crash." Came the hoarse answer of a desperate mother.

A man that Edward assumed was the girl's father had slouched through the doors and was standing at Edwards shoulder, wringing a baseball cap in his hands.

"How is Mike?" he asked somberly.

_Mike? _Edward again looked at Dr. Jacob Black. Jacob mouthed 'DOA'before bowing his head to look at the floor. Edward thought it was in bad form for Dr. Black to remove himself in such a manner.

"His heart had stopped beating on arrival." Edward told the man. "We tried to resuscitate him, but he had been down for too long. We haven't been able to reach his next of kin. If you know where we might reach them, it would be a big help."

"I'm sorry." was all the man said before moving over to the bedside.

He kneeled next to the other and leaned over the girl. He gave a weak smile.

"Hey Bella." The man said softly.

"Phil?" Bella asked.

Phil began "Hey Bella. I'm here f-"

"What are we doing here? Where are we?" The girl interrupted.

The mother answered again "Bella, we're at the hospital-" she cut herself off as Dr. Cullen stepped in between her and Bella. The mother soon began to realize that something was wrong,

"Doctor, why can't she remember?" she pleased with horror and fresh tears filling her eyes.

Edward shined a small flashlight into Bella eyes, switching back and forth, from eye to eye.

"Round and responsive."

He turned to face them.

"She may be experiencing short term memory loss but, it's nothing to panic at. No anomalies were picked up on the EEG. Her brain function was normal; however, her brain was deprived of blood and oxygen for a short time before we got her heart pumping again. It could also be a leftover symptom of the anesthesia."

This last part was a lie, she seemed much too aware to still be under the remnants of the drugs, but he wanted to include that possibility anyway.

"We're going to run some more tests on her. Dr. Black- I want another EEG, a CAT scan, and an MRI. We'll come get you as soon as we now anything." He finished as he opened his arms in a sign meant to ferry them out of the room. He heard Dr. Black give a resentful snort, obviously the young doctor thought he was being too crass. Edward didn't think much of it, most young docs tended to be bleeding hearts.

Instead of leaving, the girl's mother took his arms as an invitation for a hug, and did so. She began crying into his neck.

"Please doctor! Please help my girl!"

He was slightly annoyed, but didn't want to show it on his face in case the father was watching.

"M'am we're going to do our best to help her. It may be nothing, but we need to run more tests."

With this he gave her a soft pat on the back before she removed herself from their embrace and wiped at her running mascara.

She gave a final "Thank you, thank you doctor." in short sobs, before giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek and walking slowly back to the waiting room, husband in tow.

"Stay with this girl every step- I want you by her side and updating the family." Edward ordered Dr. Black.

"I have other patients!" protested Dr. Black. "And isn't that nurses work?" he added with a tone of disdain under his breath.

"When you can learn to read _a fucking EEG_ you can go see your other patients." Edward sneered.

As Dr. Black stomped out of the room, Edward admitted that he might have lost his temper. He didn't think Dr. Black had really misread the EEG; it probably came out normal. What Edward didn't like, though, was disrespect towards the nurses. That was no attitude for a doctor to have. He also hoped Jacob would grow a pair and not have to look away every time the shit got thick. _And what, for fuck's sake, was this fucking white light doing in a hospital run by vampires?_ He took a deep breath- _Keep it together Edward, _he thought to himself.

He walked over to the girl's bed and told her they were going to run more tests. The girl was 21, he knew from her driver's license, but Dr. Black would have to get consent from the parents. He would probably take a look at the results himself, he felt an invested interest in this patient, but for now he had to take a quick breather.

Edward found himself on the moonlight roof of the several storied hospital. _What a day, _he thought to himself as he surveyed the dense forest landscape of Forks. It was quite a mysterious place at night, especially in the fog. But it was refreshing.

Dr. Cullen had made a quick run to the lounge for some personal effects, which he now held in his hands. He lit up a joint. He couldn't say it was his only bad habit, but he thought this one was at least justified. Every so often he needed to dull his senses while maintaining control and intellect Yes, it was still grossly improper and who knows what the ever-righteous Carlisle would do if he found out, but Edward knew his limits. At least he wasn't drinking on the job. Actually, he abstained form drinking all together. In his opinion it was much more dangerous, nobody ever died from smoking too much. Well, maybe.

He began to focus his mind's analytical looking glass onto itself- he wanted to examine this feeling he'd experienced earlier, towards this Bella Swan. His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a tug come on the leg of his scrubs.

He looked down and saw a small child, holding onto his pant leg.

"Ah… wha…" He tried to speak, but in his surprise he began coughing and the joint fell out of his mouth. He fumbled trying to catch it and did, before throwing it off the roof towards the back parking lot. He cleared his throat.

"Hey there, what are you doing up here?"

The child must have been 7 or 8 years old and he said, "I'm looking for my parents. We came here with Gram Gram in the ambulance, but I can't find them."

Edward was surprised that the child wasn't completely hysterical, sure he sounded afraid, but this child was unnaturally brave. Edward took him by the hand.

"Come on, I'll help you find them." He said with a reassuring smile as he lead the boy back into the hospital.


End file.
